{"id":13369,"date":"2009-01-09T17:34:50","date_gmt":"2009-01-10T00:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2009\/01\/09\/don-armstrong-plot-thickens.html"},"modified":"2009-01-09T17:34:50","modified_gmt":"2009-01-10T00:34:50","slug":"don_armstrong_plot_thicke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/01\/09\/don_armstrong_plot_thicke.html","title":{"rendered":"Don Armstrong plot thickens"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Don Armstrong, former priest in the Episcopal Church, led his conservative congregation of Grace & St Stephens in Colorado Spring out of the Epicopal fold a jump ahead of the Diocese, which was investigating him for financial malfeasance. The ecclesiastical trial ensued regardless, finding Armstrong guilty of the various charges and basically defrocking him, though he declined to appear before them and basically laughed it off as further (and futile) persecution for Armstrong’s outspokenly conservative theology (and virulent disdain for the Episcopal Church).<\/p>\n

Well, that’s the background. Now for the new developments.<\/p>\n

Police investigated Grace & St Stephens some months back, following up on the information provided by the Colorado Diocese. Though an accountant hand-picked by the church had exonerated Armstrong, the police decided it was best to investigate on their own. Then, in November, the police raided the church’s offices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And now we know why.<\/p>\n

Grace raid affidavit details claims Armstrong misused church funds | Gazette.com<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n

The Rev. Donald Armstrong funneled money earmarked for “single, unmarried seminarians” from a Grace Church trust fund to pay for his two children’s college tuition, according to Colorado Springs police investigators.<\/p>\n

That accusation was contained in a affidavit supporting a search warrant used by police in a November raid on Grace Church and St. Stephen’s and its offices in a next door Victorian home known as the McWilliams House at 601 N. Tejon St.<\/p>\n

The affidavit, returned by detective Michael Flynn to the court Tuesday, outlines the 18-month police investigation from May 2007 – when they were notified by the Episcopal Church, Diocese of Colorado that it suspected financial wrongdoing by Armstrong – and Nov. 25, when a judge signed the warrant authorizing the search.<\/p>\n

[…] Flynn looked at checks issued “on a monthly basis from July 1999 to March 2006 (when the Armstrong children were attending college) amounting to approximately $226,000.” Armstrong would endorse the checks and write them to “College Fund,” the affidavit states.<\/p>\n

“The Bowton Trust was a restricted trust fund providing scholarships for single, unmarried seminarians from Colorado, and was administered by Grace Church,” according to the affidavit. “Father Armstrong’s children were not seminarians. The police investigation determined Donald Armstrong was in control of parish finances and the Bowton Trust with no effective oversight and\/or internal controls, and misused trust income (averaging about$9,000 a year) from about 1992 until 2001 when the trustee stopped further disbursements (because Armstrong could not prove he was in compliance with the trust fund).”<\/p>\n

[…] In October 2007, Armstrong completed a notarized affidavit stating Bowton trustees “voted to use the Bowton Trust to help fund the ministry of the Anglican Institute.” Armstrong was unable to provide a letter supporting that, Flynn wrote.<\/p>\n

Armstrong also told police the scholarships for his children, Zachary and Melissa, “were authorized by former church wardens Stuart Loosley and John Simons,” Flynn wrote.<\/p>\n

Again, Flynn could find no documentation signed by Loosley or Simons “recording this decision and the terms of the agreement that cost parishioners approximately $300,000.”<\/p>\n

“Loosley is deceased, but John Simons told your affiant he never approved scholarships for Armstrong’s children,” according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, none of this is proof, but it was the sufficient cause for the judge to approve a search warrant. The police continue to investigate. <\/p>\n

\n

If they find probable cause that a crime has been committed, they will turn the case over to a special prosecutor from the 10th Judicial District Attorney’s office in Pueblo. Fourth Judicial District Attorney John Newsome, who will leave office next week, was a Grace member and recused himself from any involvement in the case.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Note that this case is unrelated to the property dispute between the schismatics followers of Armstrong, who are occupying the parish property, and the Diocese of Colorado and the Episcopalian faithful who are worshiping at another location. The trial over that property dispute begins on 10 February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don Armstrong, former priest in the Episcopal Church, led his conservative congregation of Grace & St Stephens in Colorado Spring out of the Epicopal fold a jump ahead of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion-episcopal-church"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12391,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/05\/15\/colorado_springs_episcopa.html","url_meta":{"origin":13369,"position":0},"title":"Colorado Springs Episcopal Brouhaha Update","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 15-May-08 10:18am","format":false,"excerpt":"Some news, finally, from the big Grace & St Stephens \/ Rev Don Armstrong \/ Episcopal Church property\u00a0donnybrook. An El Paso County District Court judge ruled today that the...","rel":"","context":"In "Episcopal Church"","block_context":{"text":"Episcopal Church","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion\/religion-episcopal-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/episcshield.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13501,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/26\/episcopal_news_from_color.html","url_meta":{"origin":13369,"position":1},"title":"Episcopal News from Colorado Springs","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 26-Nov-08 9:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I do try to be charitable, and not take any joy in the misfortunes of others. Really. But the spirit is often weak, and when the proud and the...","rel":"","context":"In "Episcopal Church"","block_context":{"text":"Episcopal Church","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion\/religion-episcopal-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/grace_police_tape.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14324,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/03\/24\/grace-st-stephens-episcopal-church-once-again.html","url_meta":{"origin":13369,"position":2},"title":"Grace & St Stephen’s Episcopal Church once again","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 24-Mar-09 4:23pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The long-running property dispute down in Colorado Springs appears to be wrapped up, with the judge ruling that the landmark church belongs to the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, not the break-away contingent following Rev. Don Armstrong. Ownership has been in dispute since March 2007, when some members and leaders of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Episcopal Church"","block_context":{"text":"Episcopal Church","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion\/religion-episcopal-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12518,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/04\/03\/meanwhile_down_in_the_spr.html","url_meta":{"origin":13369,"position":3},"title":"Meanwhile, down in the Springs …","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 3-Apr-08 11:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Mark Harris reports on the latest-greatest from Rev. Don Armstrong and his Grace CANA crew -- including their novel new assertion that they really left the Episcopal Church back...","rel":"","context":"In "Episcopal Church"","block_context":{"text":"Episcopal Church","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion\/religion-episcopal-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/episcshield.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11168,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/03\/26\/secession.html","url_meta":{"origin":13369,"position":4},"title":"Secession","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 26-Mar-07 10:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Grace and St Stephen's, the largest parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado (after the Cathedral) has voted (in its vestry) to secede from the diocese. At the same time,...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18627,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/09\/20\/don-armstrong-felony-thief-for-now.html","url_meta":{"origin":13369,"position":5},"title":"Don Armstrong, felony thief (for now)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 20-Sep-10 11:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"For those just tuning in, Don Armstrong was an Episcopal priest here in Colorado who: ... ran Grace & St Stephens Episcopal in Colorado Springs. ... served as the Shadow Bishop of Colorado for many, many years, acting as the spokesman for Episcopal conservatives in the state and unofficial leader\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime & Punishment"","block_context":{"text":"Crime & Punishment","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/crime-punishment"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/episcshield.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}